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Description

The name of Seneca Caverns derives from the Seneca tribe, which
used the caverns for ceremonial purposes and as a refuge from cold winter storms
and enemy tribes.
They used the cave for hundreds of years, before it was discovered by the white
settlers.
It is said, that Chief Bald Eagle held many council
meetings in the chamber now called Council Room.
The biggest chamber is the Grand Ballroom, which is 20m long, 10m wide
and up to 24m high.

The cave was discovered by the German settlers of the area in 1742 a man named
Laven Teter, who was looking for water to supply his
livestock.
The Teter family owned the ground until 1928.
The new owners opened the cave as a show cave.
As soon as they owned the cave they first made lantern tours and developed the
cave.
The show cave was opened two years later, in 1930.

Unfortunately the cave has been closed to the public in FEB-2008, due to
financial problems.
The owner, Greer Industries, explained, the business plan was simply not
working.
Greer Industries is a limestone producer, but they disclaimed any plans to mine
the limstone around the cave.
Later in the year the cave was reopened on a seasonal basis with reduced open
hours.

Nearby is a second cave, called Stratosphere Cave or Stratosphere
Balloon, which is used for spelunking tours.
The cave is very easy and does not include vertical parts.
Old clothes, long pants, headlamps and sturdy shoes are required for those
tours.

Stratosphere Cave is a part of the same cave system.
This entrance was also known to the Seneca.
When they were visited by the Methodist Bishop Francis
Asbury in 1760, they were so honored, they renamed the cave Asbury
Cave.
That is how this cave became the oldest recorded cave in the state.
Asbury describes the cave in his journals, and also mentions a second cave,
which is Seneca Caverns.
During the 1960s Asbury Cave was used for food storage and as a fall out shelter
by the Civil Defense.
Later the cave was opened as a show cave, but the stairs were made of wood and
were destroyed by fungi growing on the wood in the humid cave.
Soon it became too dangerous and the cave was closed.